Vegan Lemon Meringue Pies

These tempting mini pies are The Cook & Him's vegan take on a classic lemon meringue, with a fava bean flour pastry and meringue made with aquafaba.

Pulses make two appearances in this recipe -the pastry is made with our Fava Bean Flour while the meringue uses the miraculous aquafaba, the carbohydrate and protein rich water that chickpeas or other pulses have been cooked in, most often during canning. We're working on recipes for an alternative aquafaba made with pulse flour and water - watch this space!

For the Lemon Curd

Meringue:

1/4 cup (65ml) Aquafaba - the liquid drained from a can ofchickpeas or other pulses

1/4 cup Icing Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

Method

Start with the pastry - into a large bowl put the fava bean flour and dairy free butter. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour so that you're left with what looks like sand. You don't want any large lumps remaining.

Stir in the coconut sugar then enough water to make a soft dough. Shape into a flattish disc then wrap in foil or cling film and chill in the fridge for half an hour.

While that's chilling make the lemon curd - put the cornflour in a small bowl or mug and add just enough of the almond milk to make a gloopy paste.

Put the rest of the milk in a small saucepan along with the lemon juice and sugar, whisk together then bring almost to the boil. Whisk in the cornflour mixture and gently bubble, whisking continuously until smooth and thick. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.

Unwrap the pastry and on a floured surface roll out until it's quite thin.

Use a 7cm (2 + 3/4 inch) cutter to cut out 12 discs, re-rolling the pastry as necessary (and spare bits I cut into strips and bake with the pie cups - the birds and Meg love them!)

Lift the discs into your pie tin and push to make the cup shape. Prick a couple of lines of holes in the pastry then put the tray in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180 Fan / 200 C / 400 F / Gas 6.

Cook the tart bases for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden.

Cool for a few minutes then fill with a heaped teaspoonful of the lemon curd.

Preheat your grill to it's highest setting - or if you have a cook's blow torch you can use that instead of the grill to brown the meringues.

To make the meringue put the aquafaba in a bowl and using an electric whisk beat until very foamy. This takes a good few minutes so don't worry if it feels like it's taking a while!

Once it's foamy add the icing sugar and cream of tartar and whisk again until incorporated and glossy.

Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe on top of the curd. Of you can simply spoon it on top.

Put the whole tray under the grill and VERY CAREFULLY watch them toast. If you've preheated the grill they will take literally just a few seconds, turn the tray to get even toasting.

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